Introducing labor leaders to geek culture

I spent spent a few hours over the weekend trying to trackdown blogs from labor leaders (see Labor leader blog hunt) using Google and other Internet seach tools. I found just one. That's pretty pathetic and it reflects just how badly unions are underutilizing the Internet, the most powerful communication tool in history.

Some would say this is good evidence of how top-down, business unionism has undermined the democratic underpinnings of unions. There is some truth to that, no doubt. But I don't think it explains everything. After all, there are a lot of union leaders who believe in open and democratic unions. So why don't they have something as basic (basic, at least, to many of us) as a blog? As I wrote in Idle Pens are Not Mightier Than Swords, I attribute much of our sorry state of affairs to gross ignorance of the Internet.

To fight that ignorance, I'd like Communicate or Die to be a melting pot of geek and union culture, where those of us who are steeped in technology can educate leaders about proven solutions that will strengthen their unions. There's a staggering choice of technologies and strategies and your average union leader isn't going to be able to pick out the good ones from the bad. I'd like Communicate or Die to become a great resource for leaders, a place where they can learn, debate, and discuss how to effectively use the Internet.

But this community belongs to the members who join it. Please tell us what you think and any other ideas for what you think Communicate or Die should strive to become.